Mark Your Calendar

The Institute is gearing up to mark its sesquicentennial with a 150-day celebration that will honor its history–and solve a few problems along the way. MIT150 will kick off with the opening of an exhibit at the MIT Museum on January 7, followed by a series of academic symposia on these topics:

January 27-28: Economic policy

March 16: Integrative cancer research

March 28-29: Women in science and engineering

April 11-12: The age of computation

April 26-27: Earth, sea, air, and space exploration

May 3-5: Brains, minds, and machines

In addition, MIT will host an all-­Institute academic convocation–similar to the Mid-Century Convocation of 1949–at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on April 10. The public will be invited to tour labs, attend demonstrations and mini-lectures, and take part in hands-on activities at an open house on April 30. The Festival of Arts, Science, and Technology (FAST) will round out the celebration, which concludes with commencement and Tech Reunions in June.

MIT alumni, students, faculty, and staff are also encouraged to honor MIT’s 150 years of innovation by taking part in the first annual MIT Global Challenge. Modeled after the IDEAS competition, the event will award teams up to $40,000 to tackle problems in underserved communities around the world.

Alumni are invited to all MIT150 events; the symposia and convocation require registration. Visit mit150.mit.edu for more information.

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Claude Shannon, SM ‘40, PhD ‘40, threw down an irresistible challenge to those who would be pioneers of information theory. A young grad student soon met the challenge, but his solution languished in obscurity for decades.